Invalid measurement indication in location measurement report

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to an invalid location measurement report (LMR) indication. A device may identify a first null data packet (NDP) received from a first station device during, wherein the first NDP is used for channel sounding. The device may perform a time of arrival (ToA) calculation based on the NDP. The device may determine an invalid indication associated with the first NDP based on the ToA calculation. The device may generate an LMR comprising of the invalid measurement indication. The device may cause to send the LMR to the first device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/617,492, filed Jan. 15, 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference as if set forth in full.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems, methods, and devices forwireless communications and, more particularly, indication of attackerin measurement report.

BACKGROUND

Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasinglyrequesting access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards thatutilize Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channelallocation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a diagram illustrating an example network environment ofillustrative location measurement report (LMR) attacker indicationsystem, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for fine timingmeasurement action field format, in accordance with one or more exampleembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3A-3D depict illustrative schematic diagrams for Invalid LMRindication, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for Invalid LMRindication, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts a flow diagram of illustrative process for an Invalid LMRindication system, in accordance with one or more example embodiments ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts a functional diagram of an example communication station,in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of an example machine upon which any ofone or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordancewith one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments described herein provide certain systems, methods,and devices, for indication of replay attacker or jammer in measurementreport.

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodimentsmay be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments.Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalentsof those claims.

In the development of 802.11az, the physical layer (PHY) level securityis a critical issue that needs to be addressed. The most popularPHY-level threat is the replay attacker or jammer, which can spoof thereceiver and cause wrong range estimation. In some scenarios, an energydetector at the receiver side may be present to detect the replayattacker during the high efficiency (HE) long training field (LTF)symbols, and consistency check over multiple channel estimations atreceiver side may be used to detect the jammer or interference duringthe HE-LTF symbols. Both of these scenarios relate to how to detect theattacker or jammer at the receiver, but there is no determinationregarding how to use these detection results. In the measurement phaseof a ranging procedure, if the range estimation error is due to additivenoise, then several measurement results can be averaged to reduce thenoise's impact. However, if the range estimation is under replay attackor jamming, then this range estimation result should not be used.Currently, there is no mechanism for the transmitter (e.g., aninitiator) of the sounding frames during a ranging procedure to knowthat an attack is in progress. For example, the initiator sends a nulldata packet (NDP) in the uplink direction to the receiver (e.g., aresponder). The attacker or jammer may intercept and modify that NDPbefore sending it to the receiver. The receiver may then detect that theNDP is altered and hacked.

The channel estimation for time of arrival (ToA) calculation may beunder replay attack or jamming, and when the responder (receiver)detects such an attack, the responder does not send any indication tothe initiator (transmitter).

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems,methods, and devices for location measurement report (LMR) attackerindication.

In one or more embodiments, an indication of attacker system mayfacilitate that channel estimation for ToA calculation may be underreplay attack or jamming, and when the responder detects such an attack,the responder may send an indication to the initiator, such that theinitiator will discard the current measurement results and for securitypurposes the initiator may disable the ranging service or associate withanother responder for ranging service.

In one or more embodiments, an indication of attacker system may definea parameter field in the LMR to enable the responder to indicate theexistence of replay attacker or jammer to the initiator.

In one or more embodiments, the proposed parameter field in the LMR mayenable the initiator to differentiate between the ToA error due to noiseand the ToA error due to interference or replay attack, such that theinitiator can behave accordingly. For example, the initiator may disablethe ranging service or associate with another responder for rangingservice.

In one or more embodiments, an Invalid LMR indication system may reportan attack using an LMR that in case of sounding procedure in amulti-user scenario, in scenarios between two users, and inbi-directional LMR scenarios.

The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are notmeant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations,processes, etc., may exist, some of which are described in detail below.Example embodiments will now be described with reference to theaccompanying figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example network environment, inaccordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices120 and one or more access point(s) (AP) 102, which may communicate inaccordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards. The user device(s)120 may be mobile devices that are non-stationary (e.g., not havingfixed locations) or may be stationary devices.

In some embodiments, the user devices 120, and the AP(s) 102 may includeone or more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagramof FIG. 6 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 7.

One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may beoperable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that anyaddressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on multipledistinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example,a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, aquality-of-service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The oneor more illustrative user device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs.The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 mayoperate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/accesspoint (PCP/AP). The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/orAP(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including,but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a static,device. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may include, auser equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a softwareenabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wirelessdevice (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer,a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook™ computer, a notebookcomputer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, ahandheld device, an internet of things (IoT) device, a sensor device, aPDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-boarddevice, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalitieswith PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device,a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile ornon-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device,a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, amobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively smallcomputing device, a non-desktop computer, a “carry small live large”(CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC),a mobile internet device (MID), an “origami” device or computing device,a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), acontext-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V device, aset-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digitalvideo disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVDrecorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), abroadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, anaudio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat paneldisplay, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), adigital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier,a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera(DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, orthe like. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climatecontrol, car components, household components, appliances, etc. may alsobe included in this list.

As used herein, the term “Internet of Things (IoT) device” is used torefer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has anaddressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, aBluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.)and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wiredor wireless connection. An IoT device may have a passive communicationinterface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an activecommunication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, atransmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can have a particularset of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether theIoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available fortask execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, anenvironmental monitoring or recording function, a light-emittingfunction, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded inand/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU),microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to anIoT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example,IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators,toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools,clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners,thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers,electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices areequipped with an addressable communications interface for communicatingwith the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT network may be comprised ofa combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop ordesktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do nottypically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

The user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may also include mesh stationsin, for example, a mesh network, in accordance with one or more IEEE802.11 standards and/or 3GPP standards.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one ormore communications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. Theuser device(s) 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly witheach other with or without the AP(s) 102. Any of the communicationsnetworks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of acombination of different types of suitable communications networks suchas, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks(e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellularnetworks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further,any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitablecommunication range associated therewith and may include, for example,global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs),wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal areanetworks (PANs). In addition, any of the communications networks 130and/or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic maybe carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pairwire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwaveterrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, whitespace communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums,satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) andAP(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas. The one ormore communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennascorresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP(s) 102. Somenon-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fiantennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas,non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patchantennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas,omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, or the like.The one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupledto a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such ascommunications signals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or AP(s)102.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/ordirectional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in awireless network. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124,126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform such directionaltransmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays(e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antennaarrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particularrespective direction or range of directions. Any of the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configuredto perform any given directional transmission towards one or moredefined transmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., userdevices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform anygiven directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.

MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RFbeamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, inperforming a given MIMO transmission, user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102may be configured to use all or a subset of its one or morecommunications antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver fortransmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in thebandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocolsutilized by any of the user device(s) 120 and AP(s) 102 to communicatewith each other. The radio components may include hardware and/orsoftware to modulate and/or demodulate communications signals accordingto pre-established transmission protocols. The radio components mayfurther have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate viaone or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with devices and/or networksoperating in accordance with existing. Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)Alliance (WFA) Specifications, including Wi-Fi Neighbor AwarenessNetworking (NAN) Technical Specification (e.g., NAN and NAN2) and/orfuture versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networksoperating in accordance with existing WFA Peer-to-Peer (P2P)specifications and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof,devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existingWireless-Gigabit-Alliance (WGA) specifications (Wireless GigabitAlliance, Inc. WiGig MAC and PHY Specification) and/or future versionsand/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating inaccordance with existing IEEE 802.11 standards and/or amendments (e.g.,802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11ad, 802.11ay,802.11az, etc.).

In certain example embodiments, the radio component, in cooperation withthe communications antennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4GHz channels (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ax), 5 GHz channels(e.g., 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), or 60 GHZ channels (e.g.,802.11ad). In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used forcommunications between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-rangecommunication (DSRC), Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE 802.11af,IEEE 802.22), white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or otherpacketized radio communications. The radio component may include anyknown receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via thecommunications protocols. The radio component may further include a lownoise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, ananalog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digitalbaseband.

In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1, a user device 120 maybe in communication with one or more APs 102.

For example, AP 102 may communicate with a user device 120 by signalinginvalid measurement indication in LMR 140 between each other. It isunderstood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustrationand are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for a locationmeasurement report format.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a location measurement reportformat, which may include one more fields. These one more fields maycomprise a category field, a public action field, a dialogue tokenfield, a time of departure (ToD) field, a time of arrival (ToA) field, aToD error field, a ToA error field, and one or more optional parametersfields (e.g., a CFO parameter field, a secure LTF parameters field,and/or a ranging CSI information field).

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIGS. 3A-3D depict illustrative schematic diagrams for Invalid LMRindication, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3A, there is shown an initiating STA (ISTA) device 322that is performing a ranging procedure with a responding STA (RSTA) 302.The ranging procedure may involve measurement exchange following thesequence shown in FIG. 3A. The sequence comprises the ISTA 322 sending anull data packet announcement (NDPA) which is then followed by an NDP306 used for the ranging procedure. The NDP 306 may be an uplink (UL)NDP which is sent from the ISTA 322 to the RSTA 302. The ISTA 322 maywait a short inter-frame space (SIFS) time between the NDPA and theuplink NDP 306. The RSTA 302 may wait a SIFS time before sending itsdownlink (DL) NDP 307 to the ISTA 322. Then the RSTA 302 may send thereport (e.g., RSTA-to-ISTA 308) of the ranging calculations includingcalculations associated with the ToA retrieved from the UL NDP 306. TheRSTA-to-ISTA 308 may carry the ToA based on the UL NDP 306 and the ToDbased on the DL NDP.

In one or more embodiments, an Invalid LMR indication system mayfacilitate that channel estimation for the ToA calculation may be underreplay attack or jamming, and when the RSTA 302 detects such an attack,the RSTA 302 may send an indication to the ISTA 322, such that the ISTA322 may discard the current measurement results and for securitypurposes the ISTA 322 may disable the ranging service or associate withanother responder for ranging service. For example, the RSTA 302 maydetect that the TOA calculations resulted in an abnormal result based onthe UL NDP 306 from the ISTA 322. When the RSTA 302 detects thisabnormal result, the RSTA 302 may set an indication in the RSTA-to-ISTA308 such that the ISTA 322 is notified of this abnormal result. Theindication may be included in a specific field, referred to as invalidmeasurement field in the RSTA-to-ISTA 308, which may use one or morebits of the reserved bits in the ToA Error field of the RSTA-to-ISTA 308to indicate that the channel sounding is under replay attack or jammingor the NDP is not received successfully due to interference or noise.The invalid measurement field of the RSTA-to-ISTA 308 may be set toeither a 0 or a 1. A value of 0 may indicate that the ToA carried in theRSTA-to-ISTA 308 is valid, while a value of 1 may indicate that the ToAcarried in the LMR is invalid.

In one or more embodiments, the proposed parameter field in the LMR mayenable the ISTA 322 to differentiate between the ToA error due to noiseand the ToA error due to interference or replay attack, such that theISTA 322 can behave accordingly. For example, the ISTA 322 may disablethe ranging service or associate with another responder for rangingservice.

Referring to FIG. 3B, there is shown an initiating STA (ISTA) device 322that is performing a ranging procedure with a responding STA (RSTA) 302.

In this scenario the ISTA 322 and the RSTA 302 may have negotiated thatboth devices would send a measurement report. In this case, the LMRfeedback can be bi-directional. That is the ISTA 322 would send the RSTA302 an ISTA-to-RSTA LMR 312 and the RSTA 302 would send the ISTA 322 anRSTA-to-ISTA LMR 311. Each device in this scenario, would have theopportunity to notify the other device of an ensuing attack orinterference based on the received NDP. For example, the ISTA 322 wouldbe able to include in the ISTA-to-RSTA LMR 312, an indication (e.g.,setting a bit). The indication may use one or more bits of the reservedbits in the ToA Error field of the ISTA-to-RSTA LMR 312 to indicate thatthe channel sounding is under replay attack or jamming or the NDP is notreceived successfully due to interference or noise. Since there are 11reserved bits in the ToA Error field, these reserved bits can be used toindicate the following information: (1) There exists replay attack orjamming or the NDP is not received successfully due to interference ornoise, and the ToA carried in the LMR is invalid; and/or (2) Power levelof interference signal. Similarly, the RSTA 302 may be able to includein the RSTA-to-ISTA LMR 311 an indication, where the indication uses oneor more bits of the reserved bits in the ToA Error field of theRSTA-to-ISTA LMR 311 to indicate that the channel sounding is underreplay attack or jamming and the ToA is invalid in the ToA Error Fieldof the RSTA-to-ISTA LMR 311.

In one or more embodiments, in case of an attack on either of the NDP309 or NDP 310, the device that receives the corresponding NDP would beable to utilize its respective LMR in order to report the attack to theother device. For example, if NDP 309 was attacked, the RSTA 302 woulddetermine based on ToA calculation that the NDP 309 may be under replayattack or jamming, and when the RSTA 302 detects such an attack, theRSTA 302 may send an indication to the ISTA 322, such that the ISTA 322may discard the current measurement results and for security purposesthe ISTA 322 may disable the ranging service or associate with anotherresponder for ranging service. For example, the RSTA 302 may detect thatthe TOA calculations resulted in an abnormal result based on the UL NDP309 from the ISTA 322. When the RSTA 302 detects this abnormal result,the RSTA 302 may set an indication in the RSTA-to-ISTA 308 such that theISTA 322 is notified of this abnormal result. The indication may beincluded in a specific field, referred to as invalid measurement fieldin the LMR 311, which may use one or more bits of the reserved bits inthe ToA Error field of the RSTA-to-ISTA LMR 311 to indicate that thechannel sounding is under replay attack or jamming in the ToA ErrorField of the RSTA-to-ISTA LMR 311. The invalid measurement field of theRSTA-to-ISTA LMR 311 may be set to either a 0 or a 1. A value of 0 mayindicate that the ToA carried in the LMR is invalid, while a value of 1may indicate that the ToA carried in the LMR is valid.

In one or more embodiments, the proposed parameter field (e.g., invalidmeasurement field) in the LMR may enable the ISTA 322 to differentiatebetween the ToA error due to noise and the ToA error due to interferenceor replay attack, such that the ISTA 322 can behave accordingly. Forexample, the ISTA 322 may disable the ranging service or associate withanother responder for ranging service.

Referring to FIG. 3C, there is shown a range measurement sequence of aranging procedure between an RSTA 302 and one or more ISTAs (e.g., ISTA1 and ISTA 4, shown in this example). A range measurement sounding part334 starts SIFS time after the location polling part (not shown) and isthe second part of the range measurement sequence.

The range measurement sounding part 334 may be composed of one or moretrigger frames (TFs), of type Location subtype Sounding, allocatinguplink resources to one or more ISTAs (e.g., ISTA 1 and ISTA 4). The oneor more TFs may be followed by one or more UL NDPs 338 multiplexed inthe frequency and/or spatial stream domain received from the one or moreISTAs (e.g., ISTA 1 and ISTA 4). SIFS time after the last UL sounding(e.g., the one or more UL NDPs 338), the RSTA 302 may transmit an NDPAframe followed by one or more DL NDPs 340. In this scenario, the one ormore UL NDPs 338 and the one or more DL NDPs 340 may be under replayattack or jamming. In case where the one or more UL NDPs 338 are underreplay attack or jamming, the RSTA 302 may detect that the ToAcalculations resulted in an abnormal result based on the one or more ULNDPs 338 from at least one of the one or more ISTAs. When the RSTA 302detects this abnormal result, the RSTA 302 may set an indication in theRSTA to ISTA(s) LMR 342 such that at least one of the one or more ISTAsis notified of this abnormal result. The indication may be included in aspecific field, referred to as invalid measurement field in the RSTA toISTA(s) LMR 342, which may use one or more bits of the reserved bits inthe ToA Error field of the RSTA to ISTA(s) LMR 342 to indicate that thechannel sounding is under replay attack or jamming or the NDP is notreceived correctly in the ToA Error Field of the RSTA to ISTA(s) LMR342. The invalid measurement field of the RSTA to ISTA(s) LMR 342 may beset to either a 0 or a 1. A value of 0 may indicate that the ToA carriedin the LMR is valid, while a value of 1 may indicate that the ToAcarried in the LMR is valid.

In case the RSTA 302 and the one or more ISTAs negotiated that both theRSTA 302 and the one or more ISTAs would send respective measurementreports, then the one or more ISTA to RSTA LMRs may be sent to the RSTA302. When the one or more ISTAs detect this abnormal result, the one ormore ISTAs may set an indication in the one or more ISTA to RSTA LMRs(not shown) such that the RSTA 302 is notified of this abnormal result.The indication may be included in a specific field, referred to asinvalid measurement field in the one or more ISTA to RSTA LMRs, whichmay use one or more bits of the reserved bits in the ToA Error field ofthe one or more ISTA to RSTA LMRs to indicate that the channel soundingis under replay attack or jamming or the NDP is not receivedsuccessfully due to interference or noise in the ToA Error Field of theone or more ISTA to RSTA LMRs. The invalid measurement field of the oneor more ISTA to RSTA LMRs may be set to either a 0 or a 1. A value of 0may indicate that the ToA carried in the LMR is valid, while a value of1 may indicate that the ToA carried in the LMR is invalid.

Referring to FIG. 3D, there is shown a range measurement sequence of aranging procedure between an RSTA 302 and one or more ISTAs (e.g., ISTA1, ISTA 2, . . . , ISTA n, where n is a positive integer). A rangemeasurement sounding part (not shown) starts SIFS time after thelocation polling part (not shown) and is the second part of the rangemeasurement sequence.

The last part of each measurement phase instance is the measurementreporting phase 350. The measurement reporting phase 350 may appear SIFStime after the measurement sounding phase. The measurement results maybe carried in LMR frames. LMR frames may carry measurement results fromRSTA 302 to the one or more ISTAs (e.g., ISTA 1, ISTA 2, . . . , ISTAn), and if it was negotiated, from the one or more ISTAs (e.g., ISTA 1,ISTA 2, . . . , ISTA n), to RSTA 302.

In case where the one or more UL NDPs from the one or more ISTAs (e.g.,ISTA 1, ISTA 2, . . . , ISTA n) are under replay attack or jamming orthe NDP is not received successfully due to interference or noise, theRSTA 302 may detect that the ToA calculations resulted in an abnormalresult based on the one or more UL NDPs from at least one of the one ormore ISTAs. When the RSTA 302 detects this abnormal result, the RSTA 302may set an indication in the RSTA to ISTA(s) LMR 342 such that at leastone of the one or more ISTAs is notified of this abnormal result. Theindication may be included in a specific field, referred to as invalidmeasurement field in the RSTA to ISTA(s) LMR 352, which may use one ormore bits of the reserved bits in the ToA Error field of the RSTA toISTA(s) LMR 352 to indicate that the channel sounding is under replayattack or jamming or the NDP is not received correctly in the ToA ErrorField of the RSTA to ISTA(s) LMR 352. The invalid measurement field ofthe RSTA to ISTA(s) LMR 352 may be set to either a 0 or a 1. A value of0 may indicate that there is no attack and the ToA carried in the LMR isvalid, while a value of 1 may indicate that the ToA carried in the LMRis invalid.

In case the RSTA 302 and the one or more ISTAs negotiated that both theRSTA 302 and the one or more ISTAs would send respective measurementreports, then the ISTA to RSTA LMR 354 may be sent to the RSTA 302. TheISTA to RSTA LMR 354 may be comprised of one more LMRs from the one ormore ISTAs. For example, if ISTA 2 detects this abnormal result, theISTA 2 may set an indication in its respective LMR (e.g., LMR from ISTA2) such that the RSTA 302 is notified of this abnormal result. Theindication may be included in a specific field, referred to as invalidmeasurement field in the LMR from ISTA 2, which may use one or more bitsof the reserved bits in the ToA Error field of the LMR from ISTA 2 toindicate that the channel sounding is under replay attack or jamming orthe NDP is not received successfully due to interference or noise in theToA Error Field of the LMR from ISTA 2. The invalid measurement field ofthe LMR from ISTA 2 may be set to either a 0 or a 1. A value of 0 mayindicate that the ToA carried in the LMR is valid, while a value of 1may indicate that the ToA carried in the LMR is invalid.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for Invalid LMRindication, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a location measurement report format400, which may include one more fields. These one more fields maycomprise a category field, a public action field, a dialogue tokenfield, a time of departure (ToD) field, a time of arrival (ToA) field, aToD error field, a ToA error field 401, and one or more optionalparameters fields (e.g., a CFO parameter field, a secure LTF parametersfield, and/or a ranging CSI information field). The TOA error field 401may comprise a Max TOA Error Exponent subfield 402 and a Reserved bitssubfield 404.

In one or more embodiments, an Invalid LMR indication system may use thereserved bits subfield 404 in the ToA Error field 401 to indicate thatthe channel sounding is under replay attack or jamming. Since there are11 reserved bits subfield 404 in the ToA Error field 401, one more ofthe reserved bits of the reserved bits subfield 404 may be used toindicate the following information: (1) There exists replay attack orjamming or the NDP is not received successfully due to interference ornoise, and the ToA carried in the LMR is invalid; and/or (2) power levelof interference signal.

For example, one or more reserved bits of the reserved bits subfield 404may be used as an indication and may be referred to as an invalidmeasurement field 406. The invalid measurement field 406 may be includedin a LMR frame. The invalid measurement field 406 may indicate that thechannel sounding is under replay attack or jamming or the NDP is notreceived successfully due to interference or noise in the ToA ErrorField 401 of the LMR frame. The invalid measurement field 406 of the LMRframe may be set to either a 0 or a 1. A value of 0 may indicate thatthere is no attack and the ToA carried in the LMR is valid, while avalue of 1 may indicate that the NDP is not received successfully due tointerference or noise and the corresponding ToA carried in the LMR isinvalid.

In one or more embodiments, an Invalid LMR indication system mayfacilitate two alternative methods to define the parameter field forindication of replay attack or jammer: (1) adding an additionalparameter field in the location measurement report; and (2) using aspecial value of ToA error field to indicate that the channel soundingis under replay attack or jamming or the NDP is not receivedsuccessfully due to interference or noise.

In one or more embodiments, an Invalid LMR indication system may add anadditional parameter field in the location measurement report. Forexample, a field referred to as Interference Indication may be used toindicate that the channel sounding is under replay attack or jamming.The number of bits for this parameter field may be left toimplementation and system configuration. The bit values could be used toindicate the following information: (i) There exists replay attack orjamming or the NDP is not received successfully due to interference ornoise, and the ToA carried in the LMR is invalid; and/or (ii) Powerlevel of interference signal.

In one or more embodiments, an Invalid LMR indication system may use aspecial value of ToA Error field to indicate that the channel soundingis under replay attack or jamming or the NDP is not receivedsuccessfully due to interference or noise. The ToA Error field mayinclude 16 bits, and 11 bits are reserved bits. Specific values of theMax ToA Error Exponent field can be defined to indicate the followinginformation. For example, the bit value of Max ToA Error Exponent may beset to “11111” to indicate the channel sounding is under replay attackor jamming. The number of bits for this parameter field isimplementation specific, and the bit values could be used to indicatethe following information: (i) There exists replay attack or jamming orthe NDP is not received successfully due to interference or noise, andthe ToA carried in the LMR is invalid; and/or (ii) Power level ofinterference signal.

In one or more embodiments, an Invalid LMR indication system may add anangle of arrival (AOA) information in the measurement report feedback toimprove the positioning accuracy and efficiency. To utilize the angleinformation, the measurement report frame need to include the AOA fieldand the AOA Error field. For the feedback of AOA information, the abovementioned methods can also be applied to indicate the existence ofreplay attack or jamming or the NDP is not received successfully due tointerference or noise. It is understood that the above descriptions arefor purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 500 for anillustrative Invalid LMR indication system, in accordance with one ormore example embodiments of the present disclosure.

At block 502, a device (e.g., the user device(s) 120 and/or the AP 102of FIG. 1) may identify a first NDP received from a first station deviceduring, wherein the first NDP is used for channel sounding. In someexamples, the device may be a responder device and wherein the first NDPis an uplink NDP. In some examples, the device may be an initiatordevice and wherein the first NDP is a downlink NDP.

At block 504, the device may perform a channel estimation and a time ofarrival (ToA) calculation based on the NDP. In some examples, the ToAcalculation may be based on a time domain or a frequency domain channelestimation utilizing the NDP.

At block 506, the device may determine an invalid measurement indicationassociated with the first NDP based on the channel estimation or ToAcalculation. In some examples, the invalid indication may be included inan invalid measurement field of LMR based on the first NDP received fromthe first station device. In some examples, the invalid measurementfield may use one or more reserved bits of a ToA Error field of the LMR.In some examples, the invalid measurement field may indicate that theToA carried in the LMR is invalid and the corresponding NDP is notsuccessfully received due to attack or jamming or interference or noisewhen the invalid measurement field is set to a value of “1”.

At block 508, the device may generate a location measurement report(LMR) comprising of the invalid indication. In some examples, the LMRmay be a responding STA (RSTA) to an initiating STA (ISTA) LMR. In someexamples, the LMR may be an initiating STA (ISTA) to a responding STA(RSTA) LMR.

At block 510, the device may cause to send the LMR to the first device.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 6 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station600 in accordance with some embodiments. In one embodiment, FIG. 6illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station thatmay be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1) or a user device 120(FIG. 1) in accordance with some embodiments. The communication station600 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device,a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wirelessterminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, ahigh data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an accessterminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

The communication station 600 may include communications circuitry 602and a transceiver 610 for transmitting and receiving signals to and fromother communication stations using one or more antennas 601. Thetransceiver 610 may be a device comprising both a transmitter and areceiver that are combined and share common circuitry (e.g.,communication circuitry 602). The communication circuitry 602 mayinclude amplifiers, filters, mixers, analog to digital and/or digital toanalog converters. The transceiver 610 may transmit and receive analogor digital signals. The transceiver 610 may allow reception of signalsduring transmission periods. This mode is known as full-duplex, and mayrequire the transmitter and receiver to operate on different frequenciesto minimize interference between the transmitted signal and the receivedsignal. The transceiver 610 may operate in a half-duplex mode, where thetransceiver 610 may transmit or receive signals in one direction at atime.

The communications circuitry 602 may include circuitry that can operatethe physical layer (PHY) communications and/or media access control(MAC) communications for controlling access to the wireless medium,and/or any other communications layers for transmitting and receivingsignals. The communication station 600 may also include processingcircuitry 606 and memory 608 arranged to perform the operationsdescribed herein. In some embodiments, the communications circuitry 602and the processing circuitry 606 may be configured to perform operationsdetailed in FIGS. 1-5.

In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 602may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames orpackets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communicationscircuitry 602 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. Thecommunications circuitry 602 may also include circuitry formodulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering,amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 606 ofthe communication station 600 may include one or more processors. Inother embodiments, two or more antennas 601 may be coupled to thecommunications circuitry 602 arranged for sending and receiving signals.The memory 608 may store information for configuring the processingcircuitry 606 to perform operations for configuring and transmittingmessage frames and performing the various operations described herein.The memory 608 may include any type of memory, including non-transitorymemory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, the memory 608 may include a computer-readablestorage device, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM),magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devicesand other storage devices and media.

In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may be part of aportable wireless communication device, such as a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wirelesscommunication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, asmartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, adigital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., aheart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computerdevice, or another device that may receive and/or transmit informationwirelessly.

In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may include one ormore antennas 601. The antennas 601 may include one or more directionalor omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas,monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas,or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. Insome embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna withmultiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture maybe considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated forspatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that mayresult between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmittingstation.

In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may include one ormore of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multipleantennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, andother mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen includinga touch screen.

Although the communication station 600 is illustrated as having severalseparate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements of the communication station 600 may refer to one ormore processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination ofhardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storagedevice, which may be read and executed by at least one processor toperform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storagedevice may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storinginformation in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Forexample, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, opticalstorage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices andmedia. In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may includeone or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored ona computer-readable storage device memory.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 700 orsystem upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g.,methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments,the machine 700 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected(e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, themachine 700 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a clientmachine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example,the machine 700 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (orother distributed) network environments. The machine 700 may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device,a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machinecapable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or anumber of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operationswhen operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardwaremay be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g.,hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurableexecution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computerreadable medium containing instructions where the instructions configurethe execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation.The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units ora loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units arecommunicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the deviceis operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member ofmore than one module. For example, under operation, the execution unitsmay be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a firstmodule at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set ofinstructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 700 may include a hardware processor702 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 704 and a static memory 706, some or all of which may communicatewith each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 708. The machine 700 mayfurther include a power management device 732, a graphics display device710, an alphanumeric input device 712 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 714 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, thegraphics display device 710, alphanumeric input device 712, and UInavigation device 714 may be a touch screen display. The machine 700 mayadditionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 716, a signalgeneration device 718 (e.g., a speaker), an invalid LMR indicationdevice 719, a network interface device/transceiver 720 coupled toantenna(s) 730, and one or more sensors 728, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or othersensor. The machine 700 may include an output controller 734, such as aserial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired orwireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.)connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices(e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)).

The storage device 716 may include a machine readable medium 722 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 724(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 724 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 704,within the static memory 706, or within the hardware processor 702during execution thereof by the machine 700. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 702, the main memory 704, thestatic memory 706, or the storage device 716 may constitutemachine-readable media.

The invalid LMR indication device 719 may carry out or perform any ofthe operations and processes (e.g., process 500) described and shownabove. For example, the invalid LMR indication device 719 may facilitatethat channel estimation for ToA calculation may be under replay attackor jamming, and when the responder detects such an attack, the respondermay send an indication to the initiator, such that the initiator willdiscard the current measurement results and for security purposes theinitiator may disable the ranging service or associate with anotherresponder for ranging service.

The invalid LMR indication device 719 may define a parameter field inthe LMR to enable the responder to indicate the existence of replayattacker or jammer to the initiator.

The invalid LMR indication device 719 may facilitate that the proposedparameter field in the LMR may enable the initiator to differentiatebetween the ToA error due to noise and the ToA error due to interferenceor replay attack, such that the initiator can behave accordingly. Forexample, the initiator may disable the ranging service or associate withanother responder for ranging service.

The invalid LMR indication device 719 may report an attack using an LMRthat in case of sounding procedure in a multi-user scenarios, inscenarios between two users, and in bi-directional LMR scenarios.

It is understood that the above are only a subset of what the InvalidLMR indication device 719 may be configured to perform and that otherfunctions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed bythe Invalid LMR indication device 719.

While the machine-readable medium 722 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 724.

Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in softwareand/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form ofinstructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by oneor more processors to enable performance of the operations describedherein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but notlimited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readablemedium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storinginformation in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but notlimited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 700 and that cause the machine 700 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associatedwith such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readable medium examplesmay include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readablemedium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specificexamples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatilememory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electricallyprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices;magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 724 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 726 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device/transceiver 720 utilizing any one of a number oftransfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP),transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP),hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communicationsnetworks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephonenetworks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks,wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, thenetwork interface device/transceiver 720 may include one or morephysical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or moreantennas to connect to the communications network 726. In an example,the network interface device/transceiver 720 may include a plurality ofantennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-inputmultiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ormultiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmissionmedium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capableof storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine 700 and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. Theoperations and processes described and shown above may be carried out orperformed in any suitable order as desired in various implementations.Additionally, in certain implementations, at least a portion of theoperations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certainimplementations, less than or more than the operations described may beperformed.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device,” “userdevice,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobiledevice,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used hereinrefers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone,a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptopcomputer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, anaccess point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, orother personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may beeither mobile or stationary.

As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended toinclude transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving.This may be particularly useful in claims when describing theorganization of data that is being transmitted by one device andreceived by another, but only the functionality of one of those devicesis required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchangeof data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive duringthe exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only thefunctionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term“communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communicationsignal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/orreceiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wirelesscommunication unit, which is capable of communicating a wirelesscommunication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit thewireless communication signal to at least one other wirelesscommunication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receivethe wireless communication signal from at least one other wirelesscommunication unit.

As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinaladjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a commonobject, merely indicates that different instances of like objects arebeing referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects sodescribed must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, inranking, or in any other manner.

The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. Anaccess point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station,an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known inthe art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, userequipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similarterminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generallypertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wirelessnetworks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices andsystems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, amobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, apersonal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, anon-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehiculardevice, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumerdevice, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communicationstation, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP),a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device,an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wirelessnetwork, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN),a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal areanetwork (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-wayradio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communicationsystems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, apersonal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device whichincorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portableglobal positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates aGPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFIDelement or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver ordevice, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, amultiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a devicehaving one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digitalvideo broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devicesor systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, awireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types ofwireless communication signals and/or systems following one or morewireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF),infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM(OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access(TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS),extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA(WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA,multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), Bluetooth®,global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband(UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G,3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long termevolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various otherdevices, systems, and/or networks.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Example 1 may include a device comprising processing circuitry coupledto storage, the processing circuitry configured to: identify a first NDPreceived from a first station device during, wherein the first NDP maybe used for channel sounding; perform a time of arrival (ToA)calculation based on the NDP; determine an invalid indication associatedwith the first NDP based on the ToA calculation; generate a locationmeasurement report (LMR) comprising of the invalid measurementindication; and cause to send the LMR to the first device.

Example 2 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the device may be a responder device and wherein thefirst NDP may be an uplink NDP.

Example 3 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the device may be an initiator device and wherein thefirst NDP may be a downlink NDP.

Example 4 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the invalid indication may be included in an invalidmeasurement field of LMR based on the first NDP received from the firststation device.

Example 5 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the invalid measurement field uses one or more reservedbits of a ToA Error field of the LMR.

Example 6 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the ToA calculation may be based on a time domain or afrequency domain channel estimation utilizing the NDP.

Example 7 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the invalid measurement field indicates that the ToAcarried in the LMR may be invalid and the corresponding NDP may be notsuccessfully received due to attack or jamming or interference or noisewhen the invalid measurement field may be set to a value of “1”.

Example 8 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the LMR may be a responding STA (RSTA) to an initiatingSTA (ISTA) LMR.

Example 9 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the LMR may be an initiating STA (ISTA) to a respondingSTA (RSTA) LMR.

Example 10 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit andreceive wireless signals, wherein the wireless signals are associatedwith the LMR and the NDP.

Example 11 may include the device of example 9 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver.

Example 12 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions which when executed by one or moreprocessors result in performing operations comprising: identifying afirst NDP received from a first station device during, wherein the firstNDP may be used for channel sounding; performing a time of arrival (ToA)calculation based on the NDP; determining an invalid indicationassociated with the first NDP based on the ToA calculation; generating alocation measurement report (LMR) comprising of the invalid indication;and causing to send the LMR to the first device.

Example 13 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the device may be aresponder device and wherein the first NDP may be an uplink NDP.

Example 14 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the device may bean initiator device and wherein the first NDP may be a downlink NDP.

Example 15 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the invalidindication may be included in an invalid measurement field of LMR basedon the first NDP received from the first station device.

Example 16 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the invalidmeasurement field uses one or more reserved bits of a ToA Error field ofthe LMR.

Example 17 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the ToA calculationmay be based on a time domain or a frequency domain channel estimationutilizing the NDP.

Example 18 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the invalidmeasurement field indicates that the ToA carried in the LMR may beinvalid and the corresponding NDP may be not successfully received dueto attack or jamming or interference or noise when the invalidmeasurement field may be set to a value of “1”.

Example 19 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the LMR may be aresponding STA (RSTA) to an initiating STA (ISTA) LMR.

Example 20 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the LMR may be aninitiating STA (ISTA) to a responding STA (RSTA) LMR.

Example 21 may include a method comprising: identifying a first NDPreceived from a first station device during, wherein the first NDP maybe used for channel sounding; performing a time of arrival (ToA)calculation based on the NDP; determining an invalid indicationassociated with the first NDP based on the ToA calculation; generating alocation measurement report (LMR) comprising of the invalid measurementindication; and causing to send the LMR to the first device.

Example 22 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the device may be a responder device and whereinthe first NDP may be an uplink NDP.

Example 23 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the device may be an initiator device andwherein the first NDP may be a downlink NDP.

Example 24 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the invalid indication may be included in aninvalid measurement field of LMR based on the first NDP received fromthe first station device.

Example 25 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the invalid measurement field uses one or morereserved bits of a ToA Error field of the LMR.

Example 26 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the ToA calculation may be based on a timedomain or a frequency domain channel estimation utilizing the NDP.

Example 27 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the invalid measurement field indicates that theToA carried in the LMR may be invalid and the corresponding NDP may benot successfully received due to attack or jamming or interference ornoise when the invalid measurement field may be set to a value of “1”.

Example 28 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the LMR may be a responding STA (RSTA) to aninitiating STA (ISTA) LMR.

Example 29 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the LMR may be an initiating STA (ISTA) to aresponding STA (RSTA) LMR.

Example 30 may include an apparatus comprising means for: identifying afirst NDP received from a first station device during, wherein the firstNDP may be used for channel sounding; performing a time of arrival (ToA)calculation based on the NDP; determining an invalid indicationassociated with the first NDP based on the ToA calculation; generating alocation measurement report (LMR) comprising of the invalid measurementindication; and causing to send the LMR to the first device.

Example 31 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the device may be a responder device and whereinthe first NDP may be an uplink NDP.

Example 32 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the device may be an initiator device andwherein the first NDP may be a downlink NDP.

Example 33 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the invalid indication may be included in aninvalid measurement field of LMR based on the first NDP received fromthe first station device.

Example 34 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the invalid measurement field uses one or morereserved bits of a ToA Error field of the LMR.

Example 35 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the ToA calculation may be based on a timedomain or a frequency domain channel estimation utilizing the NDP.

Example 36 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the invalid measurement field indicates that theToA carried in the LMR may be invalid and the corresponding NDP may benot successfully received due to attack or jamming or interference ornoise when the invalid measurement field may be set to a value of “1”.

Example 37 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the LMR may be a responding STA (RSTA) to aninitiating STA (ISTA) LMR.

Example 38 may include the apparatus of example 30 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the LMR may be an initiating STA (ISTA) to aresponding STA (RSTA) LMR.

Example 39 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-38, or any other method or processdescribed herein

Example 40 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-38, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 41 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-38, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 42 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-38, or portions thereof.

Example 43 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 44 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 45 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed inthe attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device anda computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claimcategory, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g.,system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attachedclaims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matterresulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (inparticular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that anycombination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can beclaimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims.The subject-matter which can be claimed comprises not only thecombinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also anyother combination of features in the claims, wherein each featurementioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature orcombination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of theembodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed ina separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment orfeature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of theattached claims.

The foregoing description of one or more implementations providesillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference toblock and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/orcomputer program products according to various implementations. It willbe understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flowdiagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executableprogram instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams andflow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the orderpresented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, accordingto some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer,processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be storedin a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage media produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means that implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certainimplementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising acomputer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program codeor program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readableprogram code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer programinstructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements orsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elementsor steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functionsand program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computersystems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, orcombinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainimplementations could include, while other implementations do notinclude, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or moreimplementations or that one or more implementations necessarily includelogic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whetherthese features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to beperformed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forthherein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented inthe foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isto be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thespecific implementations disclosed and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, the device comprising processingcircuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to:identify a first null data packet (NDP) received from a first stationdevice during, wherein the first NDP is used for channel sounding;perform a time of arrival (ToA) calculation based on the NDP; determinean invalid measurement indication associated with the first NDP based onthe ToA calculation; generate a location measurement report (LMR)comprising of the invalid indication; and cause to send the LMR to thefirst device.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is aresponder device and wherein the first NDP is an uplink NDP.
 3. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the device is an initiator device and whereinthe first NDP is a downlink NDP.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein theinvalid indication is included in an invalid measurement field of LMRbased on the first NDP received from the first station device.
 5. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the invalid measurement field uses one ormore reserved bits of a ToA Error field of the LMR.
 6. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the ToA calculation is based on a time domain or afrequency domain channel estimation utilizing the NDP.
 7. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the invalid measurement field indicates that the ToAcarried in the LMR is invalid and the corresponding NDP is notsuccessfully received due to attack or jamming or interference or noisewhen the invalid measurement field is set to a value of “1”.
 8. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the LMR is a responding STA (RSTA) to aninitiating STA (ISTA) LMR.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein the LMR isan initiating STA (ISTA) to a responding STA (RSTA) LMR.
 10. The deviceof claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit andreceive wireless signals, wherein the wireless signals are associatedwith the LMR and the NDP.
 11. The device of claim 10, further comprisingan antenna coupled to the transceiver.
 12. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions whichwhen executed by one or more processors result in performing operationscomprising: identifying a first null data packet (NDP) received from afirst station device during, wherein the first NDP is used for channelsounding; performing a time of arrival (ToA) calculation based on theNDP; determining an invalid indication associated with the first NDPbased on the ToA calculation; generating a location measurement report(LMR) comprising of the invalid indication; and causing to send the LMRto the first device.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 12, wherein the device is a responder device and wherein the firstNDP is an uplink NDP.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 12, wherein the device is an initiator device and wherein thefirst NDP is a downlink NDP.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 12, wherein the invalid indication is included in aninvalid measurement field of LMR based on the first NDP received fromthe first station device.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 12, wherein the invalid measurement field uses one ormore reserved bits of a ToA Error field of the LMR.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the ToAcalculation is based on a time domain or a frequency domain channelestimation utilizing the NDP.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 12, wherein the invalid measurement field indicates thatthe ToA carried in the LMR is invalid and the corresponding NDP is notsuccessfully received due to attack or jamming or interference or noisewhen the invalid measurement field is set to a value of “1”.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the LMR isa responding STA (RSTA) to an initiating STA (ISTA) LMR.
 20. A methodcomprising: identifying a first null data packet (NDP) received from afirst station device during, wherein the first NDP is used for channelsounding; performing a time of arrival (ToA) calculation based on theNDP; determining an invalid indication associated with the first NDPbased on the ToA calculation; generating a location measurement report(LMR) comprising of the invalid indication; and causing to send the LMRto the first device.